Sifting Through an Election Gone to the Gutter

By Shawn Healy

Given the dearth of positive messages offered by candidates across the political spectrum this election season it has become difficult to make choices beyond determining which candidates are the lesser of two (or more) evils. We certainly have enough reasons not to vote for all of the above, but this election is too critical to sit out given the ballooning budget deficit, broken entitlement programs, and a mismanaged war in Iraq.

As voters we are wanting for non-partisan evaluations of candidate positions, and thankfully Vote Smart has definitively answered the bell by surveying individual candidates and recording their responses (scroll down to National Political Awareness Test Results). Candidates are listed by state, then by level of office (state or federal). Gubernatorial candidates have their own listing. Be wary of those candidates who refused to submit answers in a campaign where voters should demand them...